Well tonight I just used one amp with the sda cable connected. I think it drove The 1C's nicely. I was really surprised to see the difference when I turned on the sonic hallography I closed my eyes and got into the zone I swore I was listening to a sound stange that extended out 180 degrees from both sides of my head talk about cool.

Chauss wrote:Jesse-
He is running currently dual monoblock CarverFest amps so no common ground unless he goes to a single stereo amp.

I see, thanks. No point in running SDA's without connecting the cable.

hewlew1 wrote: I was really surprised to see the difference when I turned on the sonic hallography

SDA and SH = a whole lot of bad sound.

Political Correctness...defined

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

received the jbl monitors from beemers today & hooked up a pre & my carverfest amp with all new tubes as I had alot go bad at the fest!! everything went great!! no problems!! thanks tom!! melody & I will enjoy our new system thanks to all of you!! good friends & good tunes!! what more could I want!! thank you all again!!

frenchguy wrote:I may need a subwoofer too, but will worry about that later, real happy right now!!

Lol, I have one, just too lazy to hook it up...
My old Porch system ( monsoon sub that is self powered and powered speaker outputs, Mirage speakers and Kicker iPod/iPhone dock) is being ripped apart and reassembled as a stereo system powered by my CarverFest amp and the outputs on the sub bypassed so that it is a sub only. I can't wait to see what the little speakers and sub sound like when powered by Tubes rather than SS.

Pulled one of my CF tube amps out of the closet yesterday after dusting it off. Other one is in use in office system. Just for the jazz of it, hooked it up to a pair of Dunlavy 4a's which I was using as CC speakers in my HTR. The Dunlavy's are very sensitive, in the low 90's, if I remember correctly.

Fired them up using a Marantz receiver pre-amp section. Impressive. Bass did not appear as deep as the Sunfire 400 X 7 and a little looser, but soundstage appeared wider. Plenty of volume also from this little gem. Have a set of Mullard's coming next week I will try. Not a tube roller, but these have a very smooth midrange and are a little laid back in the upper register. Dunlavy's are very revealing, but have a tendency to be on the bright side with certain electronics. Also, this CF amp currently has the bottom of the line cheap Chinese tubes.

Anyway, nothing has been posted for a while. Therefore, thought it was about time to relate my experience with the big Dulavy's and the little CF tube amp.

Anyone else using the CF amp on a daily basis?

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
— Thomas Paine

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value" Albert Einstein

"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them". Charlie Reese

"The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living." Brad Shurett

"Kindness is a language that the Deaf can hear and the Blind can see." Mark Twain

"Your integrity will always be remembered longer than your prosperity."

Not currently using mine Don but you mentioned ordering some Mullards. I swapped out the Amprex gold pins to Mullards in my Sunfire pre and was talking to Ray about the immediate difference. They add more bass to my speakers without sacrificing top end. After you try them, see if you notice the same .

I gave my tube CF amp and Lucas line stage to my daughter who lives
in Vancouver, its her only stereo so she has no choice but to use them both daily.

Brian

Damn, lucky girl! I've never heard the CF tube amp but did have a couple of the VTA-20's and they sounded extremely good driving my large Klipsch speakers with 15" woofers. They got surprisingly loud with lots of good tight bass. I actually thought that little tube amp sounded pretty close to the Lightstar amplifier.

Pulled one of my CF tube amps out of the closet yesterday after dusting it off. Other one is in use in office system. Just for the jazz of it, hooked it up to a pair of Dunlavy 4a's which I was using as CC speakers in my HTR. The Dunlavy's are very sensitive, in the low 90's, if I remember correctly.

Fired them up using a Marantz receiver pre-amp section. Impressive. Bass did not appear as deep as the Sunfire 400 X 7 and a little looser, but soundstage appeared wider. Plenty of volume also from this little gem. Have a set of Mullard's coming next week I will try. Not a tube roller, but these have a very smooth midrange and are a little laid back in the upper register. Dunlavy's are very revealing, but have a tendency to be on the bright side with certain electronics. Also, this CF amp currently has the bottom of the line cheap Chinese tubes.

Anyway, nothing has been posted for a while. Therefore, thought it was about time to relate my experience with the big Dulavy's and the little CF tube amp.

Anyone else using the CF amp on a daily basis?

OK, it has been a year later. Mullards have been in for almost a year. Pulled little CF amp out of office system and hooked back up to Dunlavy 4 A's which are 92db efficient. Earlier comments re-inforced. However, with the Mullards in the CF tube amp, vocals and midrange are preferred over the Sunfire. They have a lushness the Sunfire does not create. Sound more real and have a smoother presentation (Allan Taylor "Colour to the Moon"). Sax on Dave Brubeck "Take Five" cut is preferred on the CF tube amp. However, the cymbals and snare I prefer on the Sunfire. Their seems to be a little better separation of instruments on the CF tube amp. (Dave Koz cut "You make me Smile" depicted this difference)The bass does not match the Sunfire in both quantity and quality. Also, does not seem as deep. (Cosmic Hippo flushed this out) The very top end also does not appear to be as extended as on the Sunfire. I am using the voltage source by the way. All and all, very impressive with the little CF amp on the efficient big Dunlavy's. None of the differences between the two are night and day at normal sane listening levels. The CF amp also has a little wider and deeper soundstage. However, when I turn up to "Martin" warm up levels, the little CF just runs out of steam and falls apart. Their is no substitute for horsepower. One of these days, will take the time to hook up the Omni Mic and post the difference frequency response between the two amps for the jazz of it.

To sum things up, looking forward for more horsepower with the upcoming CF tube amp build in 2018. Should be an interesting match up vs the Sunfire with more of a level playing field.

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
— Thomas Paine

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value" Albert Einstein

"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them". Charlie Reese

"The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living." Brad Shurett

"Kindness is a language that the Deaf can hear and the Blind can see." Mark Twain

"Your integrity will always be remembered longer than your prosperity."

I was using mine at the office daily, until they suffered a power spike. I had many folks involved in repairing them at the Fest. Bob was kind enough to get them working. Mark, Harry and Mike both had hours in on them too. Harry was gracious to loan me some tubes while we got them straightened out. Thanks guys!

I modded mine rather heavily. Obbligato .1uf caps and Mills resistors in the audio path. Bigger JJ caps in the power supply and more film in the feedback loop. Bob was impressed with the Obbligatos and Mills. We may see some of them in the new amp build. I use mine every other day or so powering my Stax phones. Great sound. I prefer my Hammonds but they got nuked during the spike so I run a set of 1964 Tellys. Very nice.

ray

Magnaryder

Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.

"Racing is life, the rest of the time you're just sitting around."-Steve McQueen